Mealey's Pollution Liability : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Pollution Liability

February 28, 2025
Group: Court Should Use ‘Any Means Necessary’ To Stop PFAS Permit Violations

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An environmental advocacy group has filed a brief in West Virginia federal court in support of a motion for a preliminary injunction, arguing that it should prohibit “by any means necessary” the Chemours Co. FC LLC from violating its discharge limits in its Clean Water Act (CWA) permit for the Washington Works plastics plant for several types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
February 26, 2025
States, Energy Groups Seek Relief From ‘Ugly’ N.Y. Climate Change Superfund Act

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A group of states led by West Virginia and several coal, oil and natural gas industry groups are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from a New York federal court against New York officials over the state’s newly minted Climate Change Superfund Act, claiming that “traditional energy producers” have been saddled with “tens of billions of dollars of liability” through “retroactive fines” stemming from prior, lawful contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.
February 26, 2025
New Administration Delays Cases Challenging CWA Permit Vetoes For Alaska Mine

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge in Alaska will hold in abeyance for 90 days three consolidated cases challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s veto of Clean Water Act (CWA) discharge permits needed to develop a large southwestern Alaska copper and mine deposit as the new leadership of the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers learn about the cases.
February 25, 2025
Stays Granted In 3 Federal WOTUS Cases As Agencies Brief New Leadership

Three similar cases filed by groups of states led by West Virginia, Kentucky and Texas alleging that a recent Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the U.S. Constitution have been stayed in their respective federal jurisdictions as the new leadership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers are briefed on the case details.
February 24, 2025
Supreme Court Seeks Response In Oil Companies’ Federal-Officer Removal Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 21 sought a response after various Louisiana entities waived their right to respond to a petition for certiorari challenging a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that the oil drilling petitioners say contradicts precedent created in asbestos cases and imposes an erroneous “crabbed view” of federal officer removal that requires a causal nexus or contractual root to the conduct in question.
February 21, 2025
Intervenors Support EPA In PFAS Designation Case Amid Agency’s Abeyance Motion

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awaits a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s decision on a motion to postpone for 60 days, a group of environmental agency intervenors filed a brief in support of denying petitions the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and six trade associations filed asking the panel to vacate a final rule promulgated by the agency that added two widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of hazardous substances covered by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
February 20, 2025
Rehearing For Train Car CAA, EPRCA Violations, Penalty Denied By 9th Circuit

SPOKANE, Wash. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied an anhydrous ammonia supplier’s request for rehearing and rehearing en banc regarding an $850,000 penalty and injunction imposed upon it for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) by storing train cars carrying a regulated hazardous substance at its Othello, Wash., facility.
February 19, 2025
Oil Companies Seek Review Of Ruling Remanding WWII Improper Drilling Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals contradicted precedent created in asbestos cases and erred in imposing a “crabbed view” of federal officer removal that requires a causal nexus or contractual root to the conduct in question, oil companies accused of improper drilling during World War II tell the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for certiorari.
February 18, 2025
9th Circuit Majority Reverses Dismissal In NEPA, RCRA Case Against Air Force

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority reversed and remanded a district court judge’s dismissal of a Guam-based nonprofit corporation’s lawsuit challenging the U.S. Air Force’s decision to engage in hazardous waste disposal at Tarague Beach, finding that the final agency action “was ripe for judicial review” and that the nonprofit had standing to challenge a procedural injury under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and can state a claim by alleging noncompliance with the statute.
February 14, 2025
Government Asks Federal Judge To Deny Tribe Intervention In Utah Fracking Case

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. and Utah governments asked a federal judge in Utah to deny a motion filed by the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation to intervene in a settled case involving Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at a fracking operator’s oil and gas production facilities on the tribe’s reservation, stating that the tribe makes the same argument it did during negotiations for a consent decree reached between the government and the operator and “does not meet the standard for intervention as of right or permissive intervention.”
February 13, 2025
Judgment For Manufacturing Defendants In Drinking Water Contamination Case Amended

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A federal judge in Indiana said an earlier judgment issued in favor of the owners and operators of a northeast Indiana manufacturing facility regarding three claims for relief sought by plaintiffs allegedly exposed to trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, benzene and other chemicals in their drinking water “was misdirected” in granting the plaintiffs’ motion to alter or amend the order and dismissing the claims without prejudice.
February 12, 2025
Washington Federal Judge Grants Mine Owner’s Motion For Judgment In CAA Case

SPOKANE, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington has halted the state’s attempts to continue separately litigating a citizen suit it filed with an environmental group against a gold mine owner and operator alleging liability under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for discharging pollutants from the mine into ground and surface waters in excess of discharge permit limits by granting the owner and operator’s motion for judgment on the pleadings after they entered a consent decree with the environmental group.
February 07, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court Denies New Administration’s Motions To Delay CAA Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 7 denied three motions filed by the acting solicitor general to pause briefing in several cases challenging circuit court venue propriety and standing under the Clean Air Act (CAA) following opposition from the other parties.
February 05, 2025
Hawaii Federal Judge Denies Navy’s Motion To Dismiss CWA Fuel Release Claims

HONOLULU — A federal judge in Hawaii said an environmental group has standing and adequately stated claims under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for releases from an underground fuel storage facility in denying the U.S. Navy’s motion to dismiss.
February 04, 2025
Judge Grants Initial OK To $1M PFAS Deal Between Chemical Company And Class Members

ROME, Ga. — A federal judge in Georgia has granted preliminary approval to a partial class action settlement that requires a chemical company that manufactures and supplies products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to a northwest Georgia textile mill to pay $1 million to a group of water subscribers and ratepayers who have been detrimentally affected by the company’s contamination of their drinking water supply.
February 04, 2025
Rehearing Sought In 9th Circuit Train Car Case For CAA, EPRCA Violations, Penalty

SPOKANE, Wash. — An anhydrous ammonia supplier that was penalized and reprimanded for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) for storing train cars carrying a regulated hazardous substance at its Othello, Wash., facility is asking a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel for rehearing and rehearing en banc regarding the $850,000 penalty and injunction.
February 04, 2025
3rd Opposition To EPA’s Motion To Delay U.S. Supreme Court CAA Cases Filed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Petitioners and respondents opposed to motions filed by the acting U.S. solicitor general to pause briefing in multiple U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging circuit court venue propriety and standing under the Clean Air Act say delays would hold up lower court proceedings, make years of litigation ineffectual and “severely prejudice petitioners.”
February 04, 2025
States Support EPA In D.C. Circuit PFAS Hazardous Substances Designation Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of amici curiae states is supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its effort to convince the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny petitions the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and six trade associations filed asking it to vacate a final rule promulgated by the agency that added two widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of hazardous substances covered by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
January 29, 2025
Administration’s Attempt To Pause High Court CAA Case Briefings Meets Resistance

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Petitioners and respondents opposed to two of three motions filed by the acting U.S. solicitor general to pause briefing in U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging circuit court venue propriety and standing under the Clean Air Act say delays would hold up lower court proceedings and make years of litigation ineffectual.
January 28, 2025
Ohio Village, Norfolk Southern Settle Train Derailment Claims For $22 Million

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The village of East Palestine, Ohio, and Norfolk Southern Corp. on Jan. 27 jointly announced a $22 million settlement to resolve all claims brought by the village arising from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in 2023 that released toxic chemicals into the environment, according to a news release posted on the village’s website. Litigation involving other parties in the train derailment remain active.
January 24, 2025
Amici Curiae Rally Behind Texas In Supreme Court Nuclear Waste Licensing Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. senators and representatives from Texas are among a barrage of amici curiae that filed nine briefs in two consolidated U.S. Supreme Court cases in support of the state and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in their effort to convince the high court that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ correctly interpreted the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) and elements of the Hobbs Act when it vacated approval of a license allowing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a government contractor to store spent nuclear fuel at facility in west Texas.
January 23, 2025
Refineries Tell High Court EPA’s Arguments In CAA Venue Case ‘Fail’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several small refineries that were denied requests for exemptions from the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the U.S. Supreme Court that a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s judgment denying transfer of the case to the District of Columbia Circuit should be affirmed because the agency’s final actions were locally, not nationally, applicable and because the agency’s arguments “fail.”
January 22, 2025
EPA, Supreme Court Petitioners Argue Circuit Jurisdiction For CAA Challenges

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a respondent brief that arguments by Oklahoma and Utah and several companies and utilities that the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is the right venue to decide challenges to the EPA’s decision to disapprove state implementation plans for new air quality standards under the Clean Air Act (CAA) “impose atextual requirements and fail to give effect to the provision Congress enacted.”
January 22, 2025
Bid To Compel Production Of Reinsurance Info Denied In Cleanup Costs Dispute

PADUCAH, Ky. — Saying in part that “neither claims manuals and guidelines nor reinsurance-related documents are relevant to Phase I of this litigation,” a Kentucky federal magistrate judge denied a motion to compel production in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs.
January 21, 2025
Texas Says It’s Not The Place For Nuclear Waste In High Court Licensing Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Texas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) argue in a brief filed in two consolidated U.S. Supreme Court cases that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ correctly interpreted the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) and elements of the Hobbs Act when it vacated approval of a license allowing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a government contractor to store spent nuclear fuel at a west Texas facility, as the federal government already has clear directive for disposing of materials at Yucca Mountain and other “interim federal facilities—not a private facility in Texas.”